As One
by L100Meganium
Summary: Your every action spoke of hate, of wanting me destroyed, and I responded in kind. But your eyes did not reflect this hate. In your eyes, I saw... Exhilaration. OrbShipping Kyogre x Groudon one-shot!


**A/N: **At long last, the requested OrbShipping fic is here! Man oh MAN was this one tough. I mean, I sort of had the idea in my head, but it felt like I couldn't make a fic out of it because it was more introspection than action, and introspection isn't as fun to read. But I hope I spiced it up enough for you. I'm quite satisfied with it. :)

I guess it took a deadline to make me work on this. And by "deadline," I mean for a Shakespeare paper I have due in two days that I haven't started yet. Hey, at least I was writing _something,_ right?

This fic is unique from my others in that it is in first-person (er, first-Pokémon). This is partly because the fic wouldn't have worked any other way, and partly because I couldn't figure out which genders I wanted Kyogre and Groudon to be, though I didn't think of that benefit until I was already writing it in first-person (/Pokémon). If I had _had_ to choose, though, Kyogre would have been the girl. Or maybe I would have made them both guys. ;)

Extra-Special thanks to The Matter's Settled, who is just about the best and most thorough proofreader ever. This never would have gotten posted without you, sir. I really cannot express my gratitude enough. :)

Anyway, enjoy, thank you so much for your patience, and don't eat toothpaste! Love you all!

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><p><span>As One<span>

People and Pokémon that do not understand us might ask, why do you fight?

It is about more than having different goals, different habitats, different domains, different powers. It is at our very core, the thing that drives us onward, our very reason for venturing to the surface- I was born to oppose you, and you me. We never question it. Does it not seem silly that everyone should question this purpose, when the very Pokémon themselves accept it with vigor?

In what the humans call ancient times, we met for the first time. I do not know what brought us together, that first time. All I knew was that something was calling me. Something I had never heard before. It was indescribable. It was undeniable. It felt as natural as gravity. We were drawn together in the same way the waves are drawn to shore: inescapably, surely, constantly. It felt like I had been waiting for you forever, searching for something that would awaken my true power, something that would become everything.

When I saw you, it was like seeing everything I was not. You were tall and opposing like the mountains, and I was wide and far-reaching like the sea. You stood on two legs. I had none. You had claws that could grasp, and I had vast flippers. You were as red and blazing as the morning sun, and I as blue and cold as midnight. We were different in almost every way...and yet I was taken aback by how similar we were as well.

Your markings, up and down your arms and legs, glowed blue with power, just as mine glowed red. Our mouths were lined with the same vicious, pointed teeth. Your eyes burned with a cruel, unyielding golden light that I knew was reflected in my own. But the most similar thing about us was our spirit. That immediate, unquestioned reaction, to fight until nothing remained...I had never seen the like, and I would never see it from another.

Our first battle...magnificent.

You were faster than I imagined, but still as steady and purposeful as the earth. But I had the advantage of the water to which I was so perfectly suited, akin to it in my changeability and fluidity. You made columns of rock erupt from the ocean, angry pointed spires as large as trees, bursting upward like giant, rocky teeth that wanted to swallow me up. But I swam around them. I turned, I twisted, I moved with the agility of a true water Pokémon.

The ocean roiled and tossed, reacting to my will. Great waves swept over your false stalagmites, the waters so powerful they cleaved them in two. The teeth did not look so threatening when they were broken.

I could whip up whirlpools that destroyed your little islands, but you could shake me to the core with a stamp of your foot that made even the ocean floor quake. From my mouth, I sprayed a powerful blast of water; you merely pulled a shield from the ground with a wave of your equally powerful claw.

In between our ferocious attacks, I glimpsed you.

When I leaped out of the water in preparation to summon a tidal wave, when you lowered your shields to let a furious plume of fire loose from your gaping jaw, our eyes locked. I saw in you the same power, the same courage, the same sheer unstoppable force that defined me. I saw your markings glowing in an azure that resembled my smooth body, as you saw my own markings mimicking your crimson hide. Your every action spoke of hate, of wanting me destroyed, and I responded in kind. But your eyes did not reflect this hate.

In your eyes, I saw...

Exhilaration.

You were the most fascinating thing I had ever seen, or would ever see.

You were _everything._

I was born to fight you, and nothing would stop me.

Well...that was what we thought, at least.

Who could have guessed that we were destined to meet more than once? Certainly not I. We were two elements that did not mix, and our collision was an explosion, one which was meant to take us down with it. But that is not how our battle ended. Truly, the world holds surprises for even those such as us.

When the power of the Orbs was commanded, and Rayquaza descended from the sky, it would appear that we forgot our will to destroy one another. This is not quite true. Our rage was merely obscured. It was as if night had fallen over us and we could not see through the dark well enough to continue.

We retreated.

My slumber, deep under the sea, was troubled with dreams and re-imaginings of our contest.

I could see you, there, shining with all the brilliance of the sun, your form dazzling in the harsh surface light to which I was so unaccustomed. So many parts of you are sharp: the spikes up and down your body are nothing like my smooth, level form. I saw every detail of our fighting, analyzing every move for its impact, relishing the power with which we traded blows, the unbridled passion in the heat of battle. Your roar, I remembered, had shaken the earth before you even brought your foot down on the dry, cracked earth. My keening wail mingled with your deep, rumbling howl in a song of war. You avoided every drop of water as if its touch would burn you. I avoided every tongue of flame because it would certainly burn me.

The thing I remembered most, though, was your gaze. Terrible, powerful, awe-inspiring and burning, burning like the magma you commanded so easily. I knew my eyes looked the same, glowing and smoldering, alive like dancing flame. That was the only place your fire was ever allowed to touch me.

Even though our struggle was devastating and dangerous, and I had never been more determined to destroy anything before, I cannot think of a time I was more grateful to be alive.

After many years, I looked on our contest with fondness. It was a memory I cherished, like a mortal might treasure a memory from his childhood. It was not that I felt positively toward the fight; it was instead that I was still moved by it. After all this time (though what is time to you or I?), the memory of that battle still sparked something inside me. It was as if a bit of your fire had touched me deep within and refused to stop burning. I wondered if you felt something similar.

You were my obsession those long, dark years. Everything was a haze, endless and gentle and ebb and flow, endless as time, endless as you and I. Everything was monotony and dreams and a sleepy, uncaring uncertainty... except for my memories of our battle. That was _alive. _That was _real. _

That was _everything. _

When we met again, it was as if no time had passed. Like reuniting with an old friend, we carried on with no preamble. We battled just as we had before: whirling, leaping, stomping, roaring, _flying._ This was what I had waited for. This was my reason for being. This was perfect, this was wonderful this was you and me and Kyogre and Groudon and it was _everything. _

Others might ask us, how can you be sure you dislike each other if you never got to know one another? Surely it cannot benefit you to waste time fighting when you could be coming to an understanding?

Mortals are fools, for it was in battle that we learned to understand each other.

In every movement you made, I read more about you. Your muscles coiled with power when you tensed before unleashing a plume of fire, but you never moved more than was necessary. You preferred ranged attacks because you did not have my advantage of swiftness in the water. When you raised your head to the sky, every bit of your gray neck was exposed in a great roar, and in that sound I heard your determination and passion, so much like mine. You were created to be my match, my opposite, my equal in every way. I understood you as no other could. I think you had realized the same about me.

It is obvious that neither of us could have defeated the other. And that only made it more interesting. It only made us more determined to push just a little harder.

I do not regret that our struggles were quelled now. I know we would have destroyed one another had we not been calmed the first time, and the second as well. It would have been an awful shame if I had only met you in battle once, instead of twice, and with the possibility to meet again. Right now I am content to dwell here, nestled in my ocean basin, knowing that there are some things that cannot be kept apart for long.

I have become accustomed to waiting. Being ancient and powerful tends to make you more patient than those whose lives flicker and die, an ember that will grow cold when it bravely leaps from the flame. We are eternal. We are the Earth itself. We will go on forever. And so it is not so difficult to wait.

I may wait millennia, but it is worth it to me if we battle once more. You are my motivation. You are the only thing that is as constant as I. The only real match for me.

You are _everything._

I have never really said a word to you. I do not even know if we speak in the same tongue, for the language of Ancients is nuanced and varies from region to region. The mortal Pokémon have almost forgotten it, and the humans understand nothing of it. This lack of speaking does not trouble me. I do not need to speak. Speaking would disgrace what we have; our silent understanding is more than words can convey. And in any case, there is no time to speak in the thick of battle, and that is all we will ever have together.

I do not regret this.

Some might ask us, why do you fight because you are different? Do you not both have eyes, a mouth, a beating heart? Surely your differences are far less than your similarities. Surely your difference are what make you who you are. Why should you fight endlessly, merely because one heart beats to a different rhythm than the other?

They do not understand.

In battle, we do not step away from understanding. We cannot deny that which gives us purpose. That which ties us together forever. That which is _everything. _

It is in battle where our hearts beat as one.

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><p><strong>AN:** I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it was worth the wait! Please let me know if you liked it by writing a review. It would really mean the world to me.  
>Also, if you are a regular reader of my stories (or are just starting to read them), be sure to vote in my new poll that will help me determine which Legendary Pokémon couple I should write a one-shot for next! :)<p> 


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